This is a series of wisdom and mystical knowledge that will be examined... This knowledge will show the hidden teachings of Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef also known as Jesus the Christ but will also include esoteric knowledge from the Mystics of all religions and philosophies...
All of these Mystics will ask you to find the ' Source of All ', and to ' Know Thyself '... Enter into the most important experience of your life...

When the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, you are ordained, but you are not ordained to be set apart. You are ordained to heal the sick, to comfort, to feed, to forgive. That is the purpose of ordination~ not that you may be glorified but that you may be better equipped to give more abundantly, to share more freely, to understand more universally that it is not only the children of your flesh who are your children, but that all children of this world are your children, and you have an equal responsibility to share with them.

You must be able to look out upon this world and say unto it: "The Spirit of God in me is your Father. You may look to the Father within me for substance and sustenance. You, friend or so-called foe, may look to the Spirit of God in me, the fatherhood of God in me, for your care."

Then you will understand this relationship that has been kept secret from the world, the invisible bond that exists among all mystics. The visible and invisible mystics of the world who have recognized I standing at the door of their consciousness, are eternally united in consciousness, sharing with one another.

I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.~ Revelation 3:8

Whether it be in the forms of art, music, poetry, literature, orthose of living, dress, behaviour, manners, or speech, the quality ofa person reveals himself in his coarseness or refinement. By that Imean whether he is or is not on the quest which is after all anattempt to refine ourselves from materialism to spirituality andtherefore from low quality thoughts and feelings to higher and noblerones.

Basically and fundamentally, our mind is utterly empty, sheer bliss,totally naked. We do not need to make it like this; we do not need tocultivate it by meditating, to create this state by meditating.

Give up thinking of anything at all, about the past, the future or thepresent. Remain thought-free, like an infant.

Innate suchness is unobscured the moment you are not caught up inpresent thinking.

That which prevents us from being face to face with the real Buddha,the natural state of mind, is our own thinking. It seems to block thenatural state.

Rigpa, the Natural State, is not cultivated in meditation. Theawakened state is not an object of the intellect. Rigpa is beyondintellect, and concepts.

This is the real Buddhadharma, not to do a thing. Not to think ofanything Like Saraha said, "Having totally abandoned thinker and whatis thought of, remain as a thought-free child."

Thinking is delusion.

When caught up in thinking we are deluded. To be free of thinking isto be free.

That freedom consists in how to be free from our thinking.

As long as the web of thinking has not dissolved, there willrepeatedly be rebirth in and the experiences of the six realms.

The method: But if you want to be totally free of conceptual thinkingthere is only one way: through training in thought-free wakefulness.(rigpa).

Strip awareness to its naked state.

If you want to attain liberation and omniscient enlightenment, youneed to be free of conceptual thinking.

Being free of thought is liberation.

This is not some state that is far away from us: thought-freewakefulness actually exists together with every thought, inseparablefrom it... but the thinking obscures or hides this innate actuality.Thought free wakefulness (the natural state) is immediately presentthe very moment the thinking dissolves, the moment it vanishes, fadesaway, falls apart.

Simply suspend your thinking within the non-clinging state ofwakefulness: that is the correct view.

"Let's see why a man wants to control and influence another person.He may hope for a material advantage, such as money. But there isa deeper motive, a dangerously self-defeating motive. By havingpower over others, he thinks it confirms his possession of aseparate ego, a separate self - for where there is the commanded,there must also be the commander. So in order to preserve theillusion of being a commander, he seeks every opportunity tocontrol and influence people and events. But since he does not,in reality, possess a separate self, the whole show is a tragicdelusion. Sooner or later the curtain must come down on the actor,leaving him frightened and lonely."

Freedom from all desire is eternity. Allattachment implies fear, for all thingsare transient. And fear makes one a slave.This freedom from attachment does notcome with practice; it is natural, whenone knows one's true being. Love does notcling; clinging is not love.

"At a certain point in spiritual maturity, the Self manifests to you as a guru to turn you to yourSelf. The guru shows up in the maya, in the dream, to awaken you from the dream to the Self. Even though you know it is all the Self, that doesn't mean you do not respect and honor the guru and treat him as an ordinary person who is no different from other manifestations. You honor the guru anyway.

The relationship with the outer guru lasts as long as it is necessary. It lasts until the disciple knows from direct experience that the Self alone exists. In my case a time came when it was no longer physically possible for me to be with the form of the guru. Bhagavan severed the physical relationship because he wanted me to be aware of him as he physically is. When you pass your exams in school, you graduate to the next class. We cannot enter the same class again. I graduated from regarding Bhagavan as a form and came to regard him as the formless Self. After that I was never given the chance to have a relationship with Bhagavan's physical form again.

When a calf is young its mother gives it milk whenever it is hungry. But after it has leaned to eat grass it's mother gives it a kick whenever it tries to drink milk again. After I learned to make contact with the formless Self, Bhagavan gave me a kick whenever I tried to carry on drinking the grace of his physical form. He wanted me to get all my spiritual nourishment from the formless self."

We are in unconscious codependent relationships with others whenever we find ourselves:

1. Meddling in the lives of others or allowing others to tinker with our troubles.2. Gossiping about anything, but especially taking part in denigrating others we know and otherwise associate with. 3. Standing around and spreading any form of "gloom and doom" either in a casual conversation or in the confines of our own thoughts. 4. Agreeing with the hatred of anyone else for any other person, group, or condition. 5. Taking part in any form of a dark inner dialogue with ourselves about some imagined enemy or otherwise unwanted circumstance. 6. Allowing others to make their problems our own so that we have to carry the weight of their discontentment. 7. Entertaining any thoughts from any source -- be they from within ourselves or coming from those outside of us -- telling us that our life is without meaning.

What should be clear now is that we have to do a special kind of inner work if we wish to catch and cancel self-harming codependent behavior. It's not enough to just talk about achieving a good, contented life. Anyone can talk about that, and most do. Few will really do the interior work it takes to be free, which is why we must be different. We must learn what it means to put the Truth of ourselves before all things. When we will strive to do this one thing, then little by little we will attract to ourselves a higher strength that has no problem saying NO to what has never cared for us. This new NO then becomes a YES to self-wholeness, the secret source of the happiness we have been seeking in all the wrong places

The Comparative Religionists consider, on the other hand, that all religions originate from the teachings of Divine Men, who give out to the different nations of the world, from time to time, such parts of the fundamental verities of religion as the people are capable of receiving, teaching ever the same morality, inculcating the use of similar means, employing the same significant symbols. The savage religions — animism and the rest—are degenerations, the results of decadence, distorted and dwarfed descendants of true religious beliefs. Sun-worship and pure forms of nature-worship were, in their day, noble religions, highly allegorical but full of profound truth and knowledge. The great Teachers—it is alleged by Hindus, Buddhists, and by some Comparative Religionists, such as Theosophists—form an enduring Brotherhood of men who have risen beyond humanity, who appear at certain periods to enlighten the world, and who are the spiritual guardians of the human race. This view may be summed up in the phrase: "Religions are branches from a common trunk — Divine Wisdom". ..........Annie Besant

We use this word constantly, but, what does it mean?... Sacred is something thatis Holy.. What is Holy?.. Holy means Love.. What is Love?, Love is Non-ego..Love in non-separation.. Love is caring about others more that you care aboutyour self.. What does non-ego have to do with Sacred?.. Sacred is DevineConsciousness.. Sacred is Us.. Sacred is Reality.. Sacred is All.. There isNothing that is not Sacred.. The belief in the ego is preventing us from Knowingthat We are Sacred.. Become Sacred.. Become Real.. Become YourSelf.........namaste, thomas

If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured through eternity and attain supreme enlightenment in this lifetime, you must awaken to the mystic truth which has always been within your life. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth within you. Myoho-renge-kyo is the king of sutras, flawless in both letter and principle. Its words are the reality of life, and the reality of life is the Mystic Law (Myoho). It is called the Mystic Law because it explains the mutually inclusive relationship of life and all phenomena. That is why this sutra is the wisdom of all Buddhas.

Certainly one of the great voices in helping to formulate an understanding of Jesus is Marcus Borg, a Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion at Oregon State University and author of The God We Never Knew.

Borg is a member of the often-malaigned Jesus Seminar, the group of scholars known for meeting and voting their sense of the authenticity of Jesus' words, saying by saying.

Borg's reasonable voice comes alive in a recent book that he did with N. T. Wright, a conservative Anglican clergyman and outspoken critic of the Jesus Seminar. In The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, the two men have a remarkable conversation (although, alas, it's chapter vs. chapter and not person to person) that state their opinions of just who Jesus was and what he wanted to do.

It is Borg's vision that, for me, is the more striking of the two. He presents his ideas with a clean prose I'd personally love to master, and the place where he shines is in his discussion of Jesus as a Jewish Mystic.

Borg sees Jesus in five different ways: (1) Spirit person; (2) healer; (3)wisdom teacher; (4) social prophet; and (5) movement founder. It is under the first classification that Borg sees Jesus most clearly in the identity of a Jewish mystic.

For Borg, there is a clear definition of terms. "My claim that Jesus was a Jewish mystic means Jesus was one for whom God was an experiential reality. He was one of those people for whom the sacred was, to use William James' terms, a firsthand religious experience rather than a secondhand belief.."

Borg goes on to give a straight forward definition of a mystic: "As I use the term, people who have decisive and typically frequent firsthand experiences of the sacred.."

In delving deeper into this concept, Borg differentiates between two types of experience - the kind which occur in "eyes open" and in "eyes closed" forms. The first would consist of someone who sees the world as an epiphany in which the Eternal breaks through, with "light shining through everything or bathing everything in its glow."

The second type, "eyes closed", involves experiences that are associated with contemplation or meditation, a rising up (or deepening) that brings one to communion or union with God.

Finally, in terms that are of great help to our own understanding of what it is to be a Christian Mystic, Borg mentions what he calls "defining characteristics of mystical states of consciousness." The source of these are William James' remarkable work.

•Ineffability: Direct explanation of the experiences cannot take place with words, as in, "I walked across the room and saw a bird on the window sill." Instead, one must resort to the language of metaphor.

•Transiency: One does not constantly live in this altered state of consciousness. Instead, the vision or perception will come and go.

•Passivity: One cannot make these things happen. They are, to use Christian terms, the product of grace. At the same time, there is evidence that one must psychologically prepare one's self - make the house ready for guests, as it were.

•Noetic: There is, in those who experience these mystical states of consciousness, the conviction that they now KNOW something that they didn't know before. It is a deep, certain understanding and not something merely intellectual, as in the solution of a puzzle.

•Transformative: The person finds that how they see and how the are undergo a radical change. The person who once saw the everyday world not sees the presence of God, the dance of the world.Borg goes on to state, "The portrait of Jesus as a Spirit person is history remembered and not simply history metaphorized. This is the basis for my claim that Jesus was a Jewish mystic, for him, God was an experiential reality. He knew the immediacy of the sacred in his own experience. And this claim leads to a second claim: Jesus' experience of God was foundational for the rest of what he was."............from Christianmystics.com

1. When you know that what you’re looking for is what you already are -- and not what you maybecome -- you stand on the threshold of fearless living.2. No psychological fear exists without negative imagination.3. When it comes to fear, the feel is real…but the why is a lie.4. You cannot change one thing about times past or the fears that belong to old regrets, but youcan be in a different relationship with what is happening to you right now…and that changeseverything!5. Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.6. Your experience of any moment -- good or bad, calm or conflicted -- is a direct reflection ofyour understanding about it. This means the only thing that frightens you about any event iswhat you’ve yet to understand about yourself.7. The universe itself is actually set up for you to succeed with realizing the fearless life, whichmeans you are made for whatever happens to you!Copyright 2008 Guy Finley/Life of Learning Foundation www.guyfinley.org 541 476-1200

"When we accept that God's will prevails all the time and not the individual will, the ‘me’ as the doer gets smaller and smaller till it gets completely merged in Consciousness." ~Ramana Maharshi 'Thirty Verses'

1. AGAIN the twelve were gathered together in the Circle of palm trees, and oneof them even Thomas said to the other, What is Truth? for the same things appeardifferent to different minds, and even to the same mind at different times.What, then, is Truth?2. And as they were speaking Jesus appeared in their midst and said, Truth, oneand absolute, is in God alone, for no man, neither any body of men, knoweth thatwhich God alone knoweth, who is the All in All.. To men is Truth revealed,according to their capacity to understand and receive.3. The One Truth hath many sides, and one seeth one side only, another seethanother, and some see more than others, according as it is given to them.4. Behold this crystal: how the one light its manifest in twelve faces, yea fourtimes twelve, and each face reflecteth one ray of light, and one regardeth oneface, and another another, but it is the one crystal and the one light thatshineth in all.5. Behold again, When one climbeth a mountain and attaining one height, hesaith, This is the top of the mountain, let us reach it, and when they havereached that height, lo, they see another beyond it until they come to thatheight from which no other height is to be seen, if so be they can attain it.6. So it is with Truth. I am the Truth and the Way and the Life, and have givento you the Truth I have received from above. And that which is seen and receivedby one, is not seen and received by another. That which appeareth true to some,seemeth not true to others. They who are in the valley see not as they who areon the hill top.7. But to each, it is the Truth as the one mind seeth it, and for that time,till a higher Truth shall be revealed unto the same: and to the soul whichreceiveth higher light, shall be given more light. Wherefore condemn not others,that ye be not condemned.8. As ye keep the holy Law of Love, which I have given unto you, so shall theTruth be revealed more and more unto you, and the Spirit of Truth which comethfrom above shall guide you, albeit through many wanderings, into all Truth, evenas the fiery cloud guided the children of Israel through the wilderness.9. Be faithful to the light ye have, till a higher light is given to you. Seekmore light, and ye shall have abundantly; rest not, till ye find.10. God giveth you all Truth, as a ladder with many steps, for the salvation andperfection of the soul, and the truth which seemeth to day, ye will abandon forthe higher truth of the morrow. Press ye unto Perfection.11. Whoso keepeth the holy Law which I have given, the same shall save theirsouls, however differently they may see the truths which I have given.12. Many shall say unto me, Lord, Lord, we have been zealous for thy Truth. ButI shall say unto them, Nay, but, that others may see as ye see, and none othertruth beside. Faith without charity is dead. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.13. How shall faith in what they receive profit them that hold it inunrighteousness? They who have love have all things, and without love there isnothing worth. Let each hold what they see to be the truth in love, knowing thatwhere love is not, truth is a dead letter and profiteth nothing.14. There abide Goodness, and Truth, and Beauty, but the greatest of these isGoodness. If any have hatred to their fellows, and harden their hearts to thecreatures of God's hands, how can they see Truth unto salvation, seeing theireyes are blinded and their hearts are hardened to God's creation?15. As I have received the Truth, so have I given it to you. Let each receive itaccording to their light and ability to understand, and persecute not those whoreceive it after a different interpretation.16. For Truth is the Might of God, and it shall prevail in the end over allerrors. But the holy Law which I have given is plain for all, and just and good.Let all observe it for the salvation of their souls.

When the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, you are ordained, but you are not ordained to be set apart. You are ordained to heal the sick, to comfort, to feed, to forgive. That is the purpose of ordination~ not that you may be glorified but that you may be better equipped to give more abundantly, to share more freely, to understand more universally that it is not only the children of your flesh who are your children, but that all children of this world are your children, and you have an equal responsibility to share with them.

You must be able to look out upon this world and say unto it: "The Spirit of God in me is your Father. You may look to the Father within me for substance and sustenance. You, friend or so-called foe, may look to the Spirit of God in me, the fatherhood of God in me, for your care."

Then you will understand this relationship that has been kept secret from the world, the invisible bond that exists among all mystics. The visible and invisible mystics of the world who have recognized I standing at the door of their consciousness, are eternally united in consciousness, sharing with one another.

I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.~ Revelation 3:8

Ram Tzu is a Zen Master’s Master. And like a Zen Master of old if the Student is blinded by his own flame the Master smacks him, on occasion. Ram Tzu laughs at you… But only when you need laughing at. An example from the book:'Ram Tzu knows this'…You indulge in self improvement… and…All you have to show for it is an improved self.’

If this makes you mad you missed the point. Losing the self is the point not improving it. This book is not for the pious, those that take themselves too seriously.

To the truly enlightened, nothing is sacred. Ram Tzu is truly Enlightened.”

“This book will slap you back into your senses. To quote from the book: ‘You are your own worst enemy. Ram Tzu is your friend, so he will have to kill you to save you from yourself.’ “

Ego says it matters,the Supreme says that it does not.Even the power of decision is not from ego.All is the Supreme Power, do not attribute it to anything elsebecause this only reinforces the ghosts.Face the One.

"Who is the man who sees at last? It is the man who refuses tosettle, conclude, decide, the man who refuses comfort and security,who bears uncertainty to the bursting point and lets it burst.The bursting of the accumulated and the familiar permits entranceof something entirely different from the nervous knowing of society.With this bursting, a man becomes innocent again."

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

"Our true essence is perfectly sublime and divine. It is the highest thing in this universe. It is the most sacred entity. The true nature that we all share is more sacred than anything else. So if we are able to simply identify with our true nature, our pure consciousness, then all of our suffering is gone. That's liberation. That's it. There is nothing more than that. Once we identify with our pure consciousness, that's enlightenment. That's liberation. That's moksha. There's nothing more than that. Then fulfillment is always there without needing anything from outside." ~Anam Thubten "No Self No Problem" pp. 27-28

Man can produce out of his thought Satan, an angel, or a devil, and he canproduce out of his thought God. When he comes to the realization that all isfrom one source and all is developing to one goal, then he begins to see thatthat source is God.

“Where mysticism has prevailed for centuries and centuries, initiation has always been regarded as being most sacred. Divine knowledge has never been taught in words, nor will it ever be done so. The work of a mystic is not to teach with words but to tune those who are open to that which is offered, so that the seeker becomes an instrument of God. In other words, the mystic is not the player of the instrument, but rather its tuner, and when tuned, the instrument is then given into the hands of the Divine Player, whose playing becomes more and more clearly the expression of Divine music. On this path, there are no rules to follow, because every adept is like a different instrument in the Divine symphony, but there is one basic principle which applies to the manner of life of all concerned, and that is sincerity in humility. Happiness, which is an unfoldment of the inner self, comes as an expansion of consciousness, and one could consequently say that the degree of advancement on the path is indicated by the expansion of the horizon of the consciousness. Similar to a most fruitful tree, which bends the more that its fruit is abundant, in the same way the deeper the spiritual realization of the adept, he humbler he becomes. The one who is pretentious gives no fruit. The sincere initiate hardly mentions the word initiation, and feels no need to convert others to the path, nor to seek recognition, and if asked what is derived by spiritual attainment, will only answer, to become better fitted for serving mankind."

The law of gravitation is working from two sides: from the side of the earthwhich draws all that belongs to the earth, and from the side of the spirit whichattracts the soul towards it. Even those who are unconscious of this law ofgravitation are also striving for perfection, for the soul is being continuallydrawn towards the spirit. They are striving for perfection just the same. In thesmall things of everyday life a man is never satisfied with what he has. Healways wants more and more, be it a higher rank, wealth, or fame. He is alwaysstriving for this.

This shows that the heart is like a magic bowl. However much you pour into it,it only becomes deeper. It is always found to be empty. The reason why man isnever satisfied is that he is unconsciously striving for perfection. Thosehowever who strive consciously after perfection have a different way.Nevertheless, each atom of the universe is meant to struggle and strive in orderto become perfect one day. In other words, if a seer happens to be in themountains he will hear the mountains cry continually, 'We are waiting for thatday when something in us will awaken. There will come a day of awakening, ofunfoldment. We are silently awaiting it.' If he went into the forest and saw thetrees standing there they would tell him that they too were waiting patiently.One can feel it. The more one sits there the more one feels that the trees arewaiting for the time when there will be an unfoldment. So it is with all beings.But man is so absorbed in his everyday actions and his greed that he seems to beunaware of that innate desire for unfoldment. It is his everyday tasks, hisavariciousness, his cruelty to other beings, that keep him continually occupied,and that is why he cannot hear the continual cry of his own soul to awaken, tounfold, to reach upward, to expand, and to go towards perfection.

If we talk of knowing the Self, there mustbe two selves, one a knowing self, anotherthe self which is known, and the process ofknowing. The state we call realisation issimply being oneself, not knowing anythingor becoming anything. If one has realised,one is that which alone is and which alone hasalways been. One cannot describe that state.One can only be that. Of course, we looselytalk of Self-realisation, for want of a betterterm. How to 'real-ise' or make real thatwhich alone is real?

In dwelling, live close to the ground.In thinking, keep to the simple.In conflict, be fair and generous.In governing, don't try to control.In work, do what you enjoy.In family life, be completely present.

"Practice at interrupting mechanical thoughts. This classicspiritual exercise works wonders for you. Interrupt yourusual thoughts by becoming conscious of whatever you aredoing at the moment. Don't get lost in thought, but be awareof yourself breathing, talking, lifting a cup, nodding yourhead. Turn your attention back on yourself and catch yourselfin action. In these moments you are seeing, not thinking,which makes life a pleasure."

There is nothing like you and I. What are youseeing? You are seeing a part of the mindonly. You are not seeing a person. Just asyou see a wall in dream, you see another wallhere. It stands in the same relation to thecosmic mind as the dream wall in relation tothe waking mind. This world is a cosmicdream. When you wake up you will not seethe world. Just as you do not see the dream-world now.

The mainmessage of Jesus was Love and selflessness... selflessness is non-ego..selflessness is to be without the self.. Love can only be felt when ego is notpresent.. Therefore, Jesus was teaching that the only way to reunion with God isby elimination of the false ego....Jesus was obviously a Spiritual Mystic and Hetaught Mysticism to his Apostles.. This is how He was able to teach them how toheal and perform miracles...Lawlessness is to be outside of the Law, sin isoutside the Reality of Truth and outside of the Laws ofLove...............Namaste, thomas

The Supreme is the universal solvent, it corrodesevery container, it burns through every obstacle.Without the absolute denial of everything thetyranny of things would be absolute. The Supremeis the great harmonizer, the guarantee of theultimate and perfect balance - of life in freedom.It dissolves you and thus re-asserts your true being.

The practice of meditation is represented by the three monkeys, whocover their eyes, ears and mouths so as to avoid the phenomenal world.The practice of non-meditation is ceasing to be the see-er, hearer orspeaker while eyes, ears and mouths are fulfilling their function indaily life.

The ego is nothing more than a shadow. Its stuff and reality aremerely that transient ever-changing play of light and colour. Itexists--a word whose very meaning, "to be placed outside," is alsometaphysically true. For he who immerses himself in its consciousnessplaces himself outside the consciousness of Overself.

TheTruth is that there is only Divine Consciousness.. The idea of a soul is thebelief in Duality.. We see ourselves as individual souls just as we seeourselves as individual egos'.. Both are incorrect.. This Consciousness that wecall soul is actually Divine Consciousness that is learning whatAnti-Consciousness is.. You can only know Love if you also Know Anti-Love(ego).. This is the great experiment known as Life...........namaste, thomas

There are two deaths, the inner and the external. The first is going into thecenter, the second going into the vastness.

There is a [Hadith] which says: Mutu kubla anta mutu, which means, 'Die beforedeath.' A poet says, 'Only he attains to the peace of the Lord who loseshimself.' God said to Moses, 'No man shall see me and live.' To see God we mustbe non-existent. What does all this mean? It means that when we see our beingwith open eyes, we see that there are two aspects to our being: the false andthe true. The false life is that of the body and mind, which only exists as longas the life is within. In the absence of that life the body cannot go on. Wemistake the true life for the false, and the false for the true.

Dying is this: when there is a fruit or something sweet and good to taste, thechild comes to its mother and says, 'Will you give it to me?' Although it wouldhave given pleasure to the mother to eat it, she gives it to the child. Theeating of it by the child is enjoyed by the mother. That is death. She enjoysher life in the joy of another. Those who rejoice in the joy of another, thoughat their own expense, have taken the first step towards true life. ... If weenjoy a beautiful thing so much that we would like to have it, and then givethat joy to another, enjoying it through his experience, we are dead. That isour death. Yet, we live more than he. Our life is much vaster, deeper, greater.

Seemingly it is a renunciation, an annihilation, but in truth it is a mastery.The real meaning of crucifixion is to crucify this false self, and so resurrectthe true self. As long as the false self is not crucified, the true self isstill not realized. By Sufis it is called Fana, annihilation. All the attemptsmade by true sages and seekers after real truth are for the one aim of attainingto everlasting life.

We love our body and identify ourselves with it to such an extent that we arevery unhappy to think that this body, which is so dear to us, will some day bein the grave. No one likes to think that it will die and be destroyed. But thesoul is our true self. It existed before our birth and will exist after ourdeath.

The soul is our real being, through which we realize and are conscious of ourlife. When the body, owing to loss of strength and magnetism, has lost its gripupon the mind, the seeming death comes; that which everybody calls death. Thenthe soul's experience of life remains only with one vehicle, that is the mind,which contains within itself a world of its own, photographed from one'sexperience on earth on the physical plane. This is heaven if it is full of joy,and it is hell if it is filled with sorrow. ... But the soul is alive. It is thespirit of the eternal Being, and it has no death. It is everlasting.

There are two stages: (a) effort, and (b) cessation of effort while waiting for Grace. Without guilt and without the use of willpower, he watches his weaknesses and desires as a mere spectator. This nondualistic attitude, which refuses to separate body from soul, is metaphysically correct; but he must place within, and subordinate to, this larger acceptance the minimum disciplines and controls and exercises. Thus the latter are modified and their harsh, rigid, or mechanical character is eliminated. The teaching of acceptance is given by Krishnamurti, but it is not balanced by the disciplines; it is too extreme, it is not complete. The balanced philosophic approach eliminates the dualism of body and soul, so criticized by Krishnamurti, yet makes a proper limited use of asceticism.

There is no `I' apart from the body or the world.The three appear and disappear together. Atthe root is the sense `I am'. Go beyond it. The idea`I-am-not-body' is merely an antidote to the idea`I- am-the-body', which is false. What is that`I am'? Unless you know yourself, what elsecan you know?

Before the beginning you are pure Consciousness.You are the Fullness of Love in Loveand the Emptiness of Awareness.You are Existence and the Peace beyond peace.You are that screen on which all is projected.You are the Light of Knowledge,the One who gave the concept of creation to the creator.Forget what can be forgotten and know yourselfto be that which can never be forgotten.You are the substratum on which everything moves,let it move.You are Now, you are Nowness:what "I" is there which can be out of this Now?You are Truth and only Truth Is.

The knowledge of Allah follows upon the dissolving of the ego, fana, says Sufism. But some Sufi masters go even farther and assert that it follows only on the dissolving of this dissolving (fana-el-fana). What does this strange statement mean? The answer is nonduality. What nonduality itself means is to be gleaned from another Sufi declaration: "The outer path: I and Thou. The inner path: I am Thou and Thou are I. The final insight: neither I nor Thou."

You are always thinking you are somewhere, insome place. You have to remove that idea. Thereis a peculiar habit of the mind asserting itself aslocated in some place, in a particular form, in aparticular condition, etc. This must be removed sothat you may know the truth.

The Secret of the Path lies in the greatest of all simplicity. It is notshrouded but very clear. It is not one that is discerned by the intellect ofhumanity but by the Great Heart within. It is not known by complexity but bythe greatest distillation of simple, pure discernment. The Path is notsomething that can be understood solely by the mind, but is something that islived by the soul, one step at a time – one healing, one struggle overcome, onehumility that transcends pride, one suffering that leads to release, one angerthat is given up to love, one Love that transcends all. The Path is where theLion lies down with the Lamb – where the ego surrenders to the Great I Am –where the need to be greater surrenders to the All.

The Path is the understanding that suffering is the greatest healer – it is thereleaser from the prison of ego that chains us to the corporal. When we sufferinjustice, in that mirror we should see our own capacity for it and seek releasefrom this capacity. When we suffer abuse at the hands of others, we should seeourselves in the mirror of this abuse and understand our own capacity for it andseek release from this capacity. When we are hurt and downtrodden, we shouldrejoice in the blessings of the lessons of this suffering and know that oursouls can rise above it only through a real understanding of our own capacityto do the same. In the mirror of suffering, we see ourselves truly and thisreflection impels us to greater heights of Love that break the shackles of ourhumanity to rise us to the Evolutionary Potential of our spiritual Union withthe Great Love that is our Creator.

The Secret of the Path lies most simply in a real tolerance that arises throughlooking long into the reflection of ourselves in the mirror of the souls aroundus and seeing that where we are weak so also are our fellows weak, where prideleads us astray so also pride leads our fellows into harms way, where angerdestroys our peace, so also it destroys the peace of our fellows – and wherehealing comes it comes only through Love. Love is the secret of the Path – loveof self that leads to Love of all others – even our greatest enemies. For trulythe greatest of those we see as being opposed to us deserve and need more thanus – the blessings of Love. Seek always after Love – resolve the pain that isin the heart and always look after the way of Peace, of Compassion, of Love –for this is the secret of the Path – there is NO other.

The budstands for all things,even those things that don't flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;as St. Francisput his hand on the creased foreheadof the sow, and told her in words and in touchblessings of earth on the sow, and the sowbegan remembering all down her thick length,from the earthen snout all the waythrough the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl ofthe tail,from the hard spininess spiked out from the spinedown through the great broken heartto the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shudderingfrom the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths suckingand blowing beneath them:the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Men of inferior intelligence quite naturally want a God who will beattentive to their requirements, interested in their personal lives,and helpful during times of distress. That is to say, they want ahuman God. Men of superior intelligence come in time to consider Godas an impersonal essence that is everywhere present, and consequentlyembodied in themselves and to be communed with interiorly too. That isto say, they recognize only a mystical God. Men of the highestintelligence perceive that the "I" is illusory, that it is onlyignorance of this fact that causes man to regard himself as a separateembodiment of the divine essence, and that in reality there is onlythis nondual nameless being. How impossible it is to get men ofinferior intelligence to worship or even to credit such an Existencewhich has no shape, no individuality, no thinking even! Hence such menare given a figure after their own image as God, a deity that is apersonal, human, five-sensed being.

Fear can manifest only because of a belief in separation. As long as you are something apart from God you will experience, in one form or another, fear. It is subtle and hidden like a poisonous serpent coiled in the grass, liable to strike at any time--at the most unguarded moment, when least expected.

Its only power is given to it by thought, and it can be swollen by thought from a serpent into a dragon. All thoughts of evil are like toy balloons in that they are enlarged until finally the capacity is overtaxed and they burst. Sooner or later a fear will explode itself, however much or little damage it has done.

The panacea for all fear is your union with God.

The moment you are separated from ME and wander into the thought world (the vacuum of separation), you are subject to the laws of fear. The one who is filled with fear sees the ''ten thousand fall at your right hand,'' and is so convinced of the reality and power of evil that he fails to notice the one who passes through unscathed.

''Stand and see the salvation of the Lord'' has a definite, positive value to you NOW. For you are beginning to sense-see the power of being one instead of two. You are beginning to appropriate the instantaneous relief felt from this ONENESS.

This sudden appropriation of ONENESS is accompanied by the consciousness of how to eliminate the object of, or the belief in, fear. There are different ''cities'' of refuge into which you may run for every differing degree of fear; yet all are the same God. This ''running'' into God is not as symbolical as it appears. It is an actual fusing of you with the Father within you, and from that moment you are a majority, and you will know the NOTHINGNESS of the fear belief.

We arrive finally at the point, which is so full of the acceptance of God that it can and does say, ''Even if You slay me, yet I will say You are God''---and the last stand is taken. Even if You slay me---yet will I acknowledge this One and Only Power......... Walter Lanyon

There are opposites, There is God and anti-God.. God is Love and anti-God is ego.. Ego is a false belief in separation and greed.. But God is Real and ego is ignorance of Truth.. Evil appears real because those that choose evil (ego) have some of the same powers of God to create, they have created selfishness and evil.. This energy of ego and evil are drawn to each other and create a power of evil and ego that we call satan.. This energy is powered by the ego and evil thoughts of other souls in this world and other worlds.. Thoughts have great power to create or destroy.. This is why evil souls that have died and become spirit are drawn to wars and violence, this is a way to gain the energy of ego and evil to feed upon.. If they did not gain the energy of ego thoughts, they would eventually dissolve and cease to exist.. This is why, if Love was found and shared within all humans, earth would turn into a paradise..........namaste, thomas

There are levels of Knowledge within Consciousness (God).. Even those GreatMystics such as Jesus and Gautama have not reached the deepest level ofConsciousness.. Although, They are One with God, They are still learning whatGod Is.. Since, this Knowledge is without end, It becomes an Enormity ofKnowledge.. This Knowledge contains the deepest Knowledge of what exactly LoveIs..This is the Eternal Goal of All that enter Consciousness asNon-Ego........namaste, thomas

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil~ hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars~ must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

God wants to Know more about Itself by sending Itself into the illusion of the material planes.. It is a process of Exploration.. We, as the Spirit that was sent into this exploration began to believe that we were the creature that we were inhabiting.. Because, the creatures seem to be separate, we began to believe that we are separate from God and from each other.. The individuality that you feel is the illusion of the ego that we believe is us.. Once, you have Realized that you are not the ego, you will then Realize that we do not have individuality.. When you have Realized Union with God through Meditation and Ego Surrender, you will Realize that what you believe is Creation and Physical is Thought that we call Consciousness that forms the illusion that we believe is real..You do not reach Reality, you merely disolve all that is not Reality.. This is called Enlightenment.. .................namaste, thomas

We, who are aspirants on the spiritual path, have reached the place where we know that the kingdom of God is to be found within ourselves: We have reached the place where we now know that all of the outer forms are useless in our search; we have reached the place where we know what we are seeking~ reunion with That from which we seem to have become separated. That cannot take place outside our own being. No one can do this for us. Only in our inner meditation, in our inner contemplation, can we find it, when inwardly we have become gentle and when we feel a depth of love that would almost make us open our arms to take the whole world in, as Jesus would like to have done for Jerusalem: "Oh, how I would love to put my arms around you and draw you in, but ye would not come. Come to me and feel the warmth of love." We, too, shall find that they would not, they will not~ except the few.

We, who are practicing the Presence, are of the few who know what ultimately will save the world. It is above all things the acknowledgment that no man on earth is our father: There is one universal Father within us, and united with Him, we are united with every spiritual child of God throughout the world. Our love for God constitutes our love for the people of the world. We no longer hate; we longer fear. We need not punish; we need not seek vengeance: We need only withdraw into ourselves and contemplate our oneness with God and with one another.

" Love is a Rose but you better not pick it.. It only grows when it's on the vine.. A handfull of thorns and you know you missed It.. you lose your Love when you say the word Mine".........namaste, thomas

Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food; it can never beassimilated.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Knowledge and heart are just like the positive and negative forces;it is these two things which make life balanced. If the heart qualityis very strong and intellect is lacking, then life lacks balance.Knowledge and heart quality must be developed together. There arefine lights and shades in one's life that cannot be perceived andfully understood without having touched the deeper side of life,which is the devotional side.

Mystics of all ages have not been known for their miraculous powersor for the doctrines they have taught, but for the devotion they haveshown throughout their lives. The Sufi in the East says to himselfIshq Allah Mabud Allah which means 'God is Love, God is Beloved', inother words it is God who is Love, Lover, and Beloved. When we hearthe stories of the miraculous powers of mystics, of their greatinsight into the hidden laws of nature, of the qualities which theymanifested through their beautiful personalities, we realize thatthese have all come from one and the same source, whether one callsit devotion or whether one calls it love.

Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food and can never beassimilated. 'I am the heart of my devotees,' says Krishna in theBaghavat Gita. And Hafiz says, 'O joyous day when I depart from thisabode of desolation, seeking the repose of my soul and setting out insearch of my Beloved.' ... The life of the mystics, both the innerand the outer, is shown as a wondrous phenomenon within itself. Hebecomes independent of all earthly sources of life and lives in theBeing of God, realizing His presence by the denial of his individualself; and he thus merges into that highest bliss wherein he finds hissalvation.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” ............ St. Francis of Assisi

The ego is an illusion.. It is a mistake in your thinking.. you have been taught to believe that you are the ego.. because, you have more powers than you are aware of, you have created this false energy called ego, that needs constant belief in it's existence for it to continue to survive.. When you watch your thoughts, which is the ego, you can eliminate the thoughts that are selfish and unloving.. Love is anti-ego or what we call God.. The Truth is that we are already One with God, but the false belief in the ego prevents us from Knowing this.. When, you have eliminated the ego by watching your thoughts and having thoughts of only Love, then, you will be living in the state of "Christ Consciousness", which is living in the state of non-ego, otherwise Known as God...........namaste, thomas

Much is written of the end of the world.. but, does that concern us?.. you already know that death comes like a thief in the night, but, are you ready for instant death?.. Know that you cannot die.. Know that you are part of Consciousness that we call God.. Know that you are Light and Love.. Reach for the Light when you find yourself in darkness.. The Light is always available.. Turn your self and look for the Light and travel towards it.. you will feel yourself drawn toward It and will enter It within seconds.. Remember, you cannot die.. you only travel towards a different Reality..This Reality is All that Is.. This Reality is called God.. This Reality is You.. Fear Not..Love is beyond Fear.. You are Love and Light.. Fear not the number 2012.. Love conquers all Fear.. You are Love, You are beyond Fear.. Fear is the ego.. Fear is not You...You are not the ego...I will see you in the Light.......namaste, thomas

Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the world as real and one’s self as unreal is ignorance. The cause of sorrow. To know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them as they are. It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show you your own face. The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use it.

You could say that awareness isn't dependent upon consciousness. Awareness is, always, whether or not there are bits of electricity firing away in the brain to produce a solid reference point that is identified with. Whether those reference points are there or not, "corrupted" or not (as with brain injury, delusional psychosis, etc), awareness - life - always is. The small thing we seem to be is a convenience, perfectly crafted by itself to apprehend itself, with "aberrations" (altered states of mind, hallucinations etc.) thrown in for variety. Without consciousness, you are that indefinable thing variously labeled awareness, God, presence, Sunyata etc., not a thing, but some essence that simply is, and isn't bound by time or space. And that's what you are, completely boundless, infinite, and eternal, whether you like it or not.

So why do so many feel it as such a horrible thing? Probably because the reflection of the infinite - what we know as day to day life - has taken on the identity of Totality, and as each day to day story of a life comes to an end, we can't take the thought of not existing in what we believe is the only way. Fear of death, in other words. The small self loves to exist - it doesn't want to not exist. It's very understandable.

The possible "good" thing is - the reflection is no less "one" than the indefinable essence, awareness, that it reflects. Splitting it into two - awareness and reflection - is a head's up that the mind is involved, splitting away (as is its job). Take any concept with a massive grain of salt, no matter how brilliant, or simple, or direct, or seemingly "The Truth". When we just get on with it, be it, do it, think whatever we think without picking it to bits - and actually there's nothing wrong with picking it to bits - life is more smoothly lived, with less apparent suffering. And suffering itself is part of the appearance as well. Whatever it is that seems to be happening, it happening just as it must. If the small self can somehow let go of needing to be in charge of it, it can be much more efficient...but it doesn't need to be "more efficient". It only needs to be exactly as it is, or as it seems.

So many people want to train themselves to see what's right in front of their noses, and, in fact, is their nose, and the seeing of it. They are tortured by their thoughts. Well...remember that what we're calling "themselves" is probably the ego, suffering from a rather grandiose case of mistaken identity. There can certainly arise a story of the ego doing its best to train itself to see thoughts as objects, and the objects are not what you are etc., but maybe it's an easier story to just ignore those pesky thoughts. "My" thoughts can do what they like - doesn't bother me a bit. They're not "my" thoughts. They're just thoughts. Awareness is, no matter what. One way of calming down the hyper mind (that is the tool of duality) is to think of your thoughts as oneness (awareness), "thought-ing". Again, whatever thoughts come up, or seem to, are what thoughts must come up. Nothing "wrong" with any of them.

People seem to make a big deal of the story of the "awakening moment" - it's something solid the ego can hold on to and wait for, deflecting its death for "another time". Well, just remember that "what happened for me" is just another nothingness, made apparently "real", and exists only as memory NOW. It's always now o'clock. My fevered (and tolerated) brain tends to put a story to it along the lines of "I realised what I had been looking for all this time was my life, just exactly as it is." There seemed to be a "shift" but not much of one. The thing that seemed to die was the need for whatever was happening to be anything else than exactly what it was. And what it was, and is, is just life toddling along as it always has, unresisted. Very, very, very, very simple! The mind will complicate it; the mind can try explain the mystery of life in any of a billion billion ways. I don't think awareness gives a flying fart whether awakening happens or not. It's just more dust in the wind, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing, but a hell of a lot of fun, and to be relished.

A good friend of mine (Mike over at http://thepeacefulself.com) says that the ego is comprised entirely of fear. That definitely strikes a chord. Perhaps this is a maxim: Anything you don't want, don't fight it. Go with it. Feel the fear. Actually, you don't have to do a thing...you just don't know it "yet"! And there is no yet. Awareness isn't hanging around, getting more aware while your thoughts fool around with trying to figure all this out. You are infinite, eternal, whole, complete and perfect NOW. There is only now. Full stop. And whatever it is you're looking for, it's not what you imagine it to be...boxing it in will keep it ever elusive...and paradoxically, boxing it in and trying to figure it all out is just perfect too. You're doing it. You've done it. You're here, even if "here" is doubts and pain and suffering and financial instability and bereavement. This. Is. It. ..........Suzanne Foxton

Don't waste your time in arguments and discussionattempting to grasp the ungraspable.

Each thing reveals the One,the One manifests as all things.To live in this Realizationis not to worry about perfection or non-perfection.To put your trust in the Heart-Mind is to live without separation,and in this non-duality you are one with your Life-Source.

“I woke up and suddenly got it,” Carrey says. “I understood suddenlyhow my thoughts were just an illusory thing. And how 'thought' isresponsible for most of the suffering we experience ... and suddenly Ihad this amazing feeling of freedom – from myself, from my problems. Isaw that I was bigger than what I do. I was bigger than my body. I wasno longer a fragment of the universe – I was the universe.”

Whether we confront the mystery called death or the equal mystery called life, the revelation must come in one or the other state: there is a connection with HE WHO IS. For this are we born and our oscillation between the two happens at the Mind of the World's behest. As, so sleepily and unwittingly, we shape and light up these fragments of being that we are, quite simply the connection gets uncovered more and more.

This vigilance that we speak of is called Awareness.. It is the ability to watch the thoughts of your mind and eliminate the thoughts from the ego.. Eventually, you will find that the more the ego is eliminated, the more Love will appear.. The ego is the veil that covers the Truth.. The Truth will appear as you remove the veil.. The ego is an illusion that we have been taught to believe is us.. To fully rise above the ego is accomplished through meditation by surrendering this illusion and becoming Nothing.. If you are able to achieve this state of Truth, you will feel as though you are dying.. This is why Jesus said;" you must die to be born again".. but, if you are courageous and face this death of the ego and accept the death of all that you believe is you, you will find yourself immediately in the state of Reality and Consciousness.. this state is Union with God.. and then you can say as Jesus said;" I and the Father are One"...........namaste, thomas

It is according to the extent of our consciousness of prayer that our prayerreaches God.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Our follies and errors are natural; but when we defend ourselves, making virtuesof our shortcomings and trying to hide our errors, it is as if we nurtured ourerrors, trying to make them grow. The only real method of growth is to judgeourselves constantly and to see where we fail; then in prayer to ask for pardonand right guidance.

Man often thinks that, as God is the Knower of the heart there can be no need ofany recital or gesture in prayer; but that it would surely be sufficient if hewere to sit in the silence and think of God. But this is not so; it is accordingto the extent of a man's consciousness of prayer that this prayer reaches God.If your body is still and only your mind is working, it means that part of yourbeing is in prayer and part not; for man has both mind and body, so that thecomplete being must be praying.

But an inquiring mind will ask, 'If God is within man, then all our troubles anddifficulties, our feelings and our attitudes towards Him and also our faults,are known to Him. So what need is there to express them in prayer?' It is likesaying, 'Because I love a certain person, why should I show it?' Expression isthe nature of life. When every part of man's mind and body expresses hisfeeling, his thought, his aspiration, then it produces its full effect.

God is individual being, which means that God is the only Self, and there isno way for any hurt or evil to enter to defile the infinite purity of the Soulof God, nor anything at which evil can strike or to which it can attach itself.When the Master repeated the age-old wisdom: "Therefore all things whatsoever yewould that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law andthe prophets," he was giving us a principle. Unless we do unto others as wewould have others do unto us, we injure, not the others, but ourselves.>> In the days to come, when men recognize the great truth that God is theSelfhood of every individual, the evil aimed at us from another will never touchus, but will immediately rebound upon the one who sends it.>> The Christ-mind has in it no criticism, no judgment, no condemnation, butbeholds the Christ of God as the activity of individual being, as your Soul andmine. Human eyes do not comprehend this because as human beings, we are good andbad; but spiritually, we are the Sons of God, and through spiritualconsciousness we can discern the spiritual good in each other. There is no roomin spiritual living for persecution, hatred, judgment, or condemnation of anyperson or group of people. It is not only inconsistent, but hypocritical to talkabout the Christ and our great love for God in one breath, and, in the nextbreath, speak disparagingly of a neighbor who is of a different race, creed,nationality, political affiliation, or economic status. One cannot be the childof God as long as he persecutes or hates anyone or anything, but only as helives in a consciousness of no judgment or condemnation.

The sense of being alive, being present, is so intoxicatingthat one is enchanted by the manifestation it presents andgets so involved as to forget to find out if the spectacle reallyexists or is merely a hallucination, a dream, a mirage.

The world of humans is ruled by the ego, therefore, the world is doomed..But, do not fear, as we cannot die.. If you have not attained Salvation fromIgnorance then you will enter another body of a physical or non-physical beingto continue your learning.. You are the mirror of God, meant to see Itself..but, God can only see Itself when you are non existent as a separate ego.. Thefalse self is the veil covering the mirror.. Love removes theveil............namaste, thomas

Much has been written about sin and salvation, but, what exactly are sin and salvation?.. I have learned that sin is acting in thoughts and deeds from the mentality of ego.. When you act in thoughts and deeds from non-ego, you are in the mental "state of Love".. This is why the main teaching of Jesus was to show you that you should be living in the state of Love, the state of selflessness.. As God is composed of the energy of selflessness, we become united with God when we are in the state of selflessness.. The incredible feeling that we experience when we are in this mental state of selflessness and non-ego is called Love..This is also called Joy and Bliss.... Salvation means to be saved.. But saved from what?.. We are saved from the false belief in the separate ego.. We are saved from the hell of selfishness.. We are saved from future reincarnations back into the material world of pain.. We are saved because We have become only " I AM".. We have become Selfless.. We have arrived Home.. We have become Free............namaste, thomas

God is within you; you are His instrument, and through you He expresses Himselfto the external world.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

In reality God is within man; man is the instrument of God and through him Godexperiences the external world. Prayer is the way of conveying the God within tothe God without; and thought, speech and gesture make the prayer complete.

The words 'within oneself' might confuse some people. They might think 'withinoneself' means inside one's body; but that is because man is ignorant ofhimself. Man has a very poor idea of himself, and this keeps him in ignorance ofhis real self. If man only knew how large, how wide, how deep, how high is hisbeing, he would think, act, and feel differently; but with all his width, depth,and height, if man is not conscious of them he is as small as he thinks himselfto be. The essence of milk is butter, the essence of the flower is honey, theessence of grapes is wine, and the essence of life is wisdom.

For the secret of all knowledge that one acquires in the world, whether worldlyknowledge or spiritual knowledge, is the knowledge of the self. For instance,music is played outside, but where is it realized? It is realized within. A goodword or a bad word is spoken outside, but where is it realized? It is realizedwithin. Then where is the realization of this whole manifestation, all thiscreation that stands before us in all its aspects? Its realization is within.And at the same time the error of man always continues. Instead of finding itwithin he always wants to find it without. It is just like a man who wants tosee the moon and looks for it on the ground. And if a man sought for thousandsof years for the moon by looking on the earth, he will never see it. He willhave to lift up his head and look at the sky. And so with the man who is insearch of the mystery of life outside; he will never find it. For the mystery oflife is to be found within.

Christhood is the final step of non-duality.. It is the Realization that You and God are One.. this is why Jesus said;" I and the Father are One".. This state of Consciousness called Christ is the Realization that You are not the ego,and in fact do not exist as a separate entity.. This Enlightenment called Christhood is reentering the Energy of selflessness called Love.. Christhood is meant for all souls, It is the reason that we are in the material plane.. To live in Christ Consciousness is to live in the material world in the complete state of Love.. Jesus was not the only Christ, He was one of many past and future Christs.. This is why He said that those who come after Him will do greater works than Him... So, you see, the only door to Freedom is to become a Christ.. This is the Realization of the Consciousness of Love and non-ego that you already are but, you have been blinded by the illusion of the ego.........namaste, thomas

All Knowledge is already within you.. As Jesus said;'The kingdom of God iswithin you".. the only wall that prevents you from Knowing Truth is your beliefin the ego that you call yourself.. As long as you believe that you are separatefrom God and from each other, you will remain trapped in a jail of your ownmaking.. You will only Know Truth and Reality when you have surrendered theego.. As Jesus said;" you must die to be born again".. you have been given themap to Freedom but your ego prevents you from using it.. As long as the mindconvinces you that words will Free you, you will remain trapped.. Onlymeditation and surrender will Free you.. Forget words, they are only thoughtsfrom other men.. Realize Reality.. That is your only Hope..............namaste,thomas

To know the self as the only reality and all elseas temporal and transient is freedom, peace andjoy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things asimagined, learn to see them as they are. Whenyou can see everything as it is, you will also seeyourself as you are. It is like cleansing a mirror.The same mirror that shows you the world as it iswill also show you your own face. The thought `I am'is the polishing cloth. Use it.

All there is, is space appearing inseparably as everything. Not two. In that seeing, the fear is seen through.

A witness is still fear operating from the sense of a separate entity, one that is afraid of what’s happening, trying to keep some distance from it. It’s very easy to hide in words like “awareness” or "being" or "Oneness" and walk around convincing yourself and others of your certainty. This is all in some attempt to avoid the total uncertainty, vulnerability, and unknowing involved in the kind of freedom being described here. It is much safer to just hang out in the idea that I’m watching everything come and go. When there is seen to be no boundary between that which is watching and what is being watched, between awareness and its content, there is no way to know or control what is going to happen. This means one could die in the next moment or win the lottery. And there is a knowing that, whatever happens, that is what I am. I am what is happening. It’s that simple. No division. No boundary. No desire to change circumstances, people, or things. Everything--every thought, emotion, state, and experience (good or bad) just comes and goes, leaving no trace. All is, perfect as it is, just because it is, and that isness is what you are.

...Bliss is not something to be got. On the other hand you are always Bliss.This desire [for Bliss] is born of the sense of incompleteness. To whom is this sense of incompleteness? Enquire. In deep sleep you were blissful. Now you are not so. What has interposed between that Bliss and this non-bliss? It is the ego. Seek its source and find you are Bliss.

I only speak of the Sunbecause the Sun is my MasterI worship even the dust at His feet.I am not a night-lover and do not praise sleepI am the messenger of the Sun!Secretly I will ask Him and pass the answers to you.Like the Sun I shine on those who are forsakenI may look drunk and disheveled but I speak the Truth.Tear off the mask, your face is glorious,your heart may be cold as stone butI will warm it with my raging fire.No longer will I speak of sunsets or rising Moons,I will bring you love's winefor I am born of the SunI am a King!

"The mind becomes panicky when it meets a problem it cannot solve.In its anxiety to relieve the tension it turns toward a falsesolution which just creates another panicky situation. So themind's owner travels in an endless circle of despair. There isa way to end it. First, the man must dare to see that his usualkind of thinking can only make things worse. Next, he can realizethe existence of a totally new way of thinking. Finally he canfollow esoteric principles which will accurately guide him outof his circle of panic."

"We have devoted our lives to seeking knowledge of the heart; knowledge that will carry us to our soul's destination. Our arrival will be signaled by a profound inner peace; as a ship sails best in deep ocean waters, so the soul loves to swim in the ocean of Divine Knowledge. Your minds have limits, but not your hearts, for they are receptacles of endless capacity. But, you must open your hearts to this knowledge, as nothing may pass through what is closed."........ Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani

One of Francis's most famous sermons is one he gave to a flock of birds. One day while Francis and some friars were traveling along the road, Francis looked up and saw the trees full of birds. Francis "left his companions in the road and ran eagerly toward the birds" and "humbly begged them to listen to the word of God." One of the friars recorded the sermon, which overflows with Francis's love for creation and its Creator: "My brothers, birds, you should praise your Creator very much and always love him; he gave you feathers to clothe you, wings so that you can fly, and whatever else was necessary for you. God made you noble among his creatures, and he gave you a home in the purity of the air; though you neither sow nor reap, he nevertheless protects and governs you without any solicitude on your part."

Thomas of Celano records that the birds stretched their necks and extended their wings as Francis walked among them touching and blessing them. This event was a turning point of sorts for Francis. "He began to blame himself for negligence in not having preached to the birds before" and "from that day on, he solicitously admonished the birds, all animals and reptiles, and even creatures that have no feeling, to praise and love their Creator."

Mind must be distinguished from the states of mind, as the object must beseparated from knowing it, the act of knowledge. Spinoza opposed the phenomenalworld to the substantial, phenomena to substance; what others call relative toabsolute; what the Hindus call illusion to reality; and what the religionistscall matter to spirit. But all these statements can only be made because themind originally makes them, for the mind is the witness of both. We must givethe primacy to mind, for it Is. Whether illusion exists or not, whether theabsolute exists or not, Mind IS. If the world is constantly present to me, it isa mind which is making it present, for awareness is a power of mind. It is mindwhich makes the thought of material objects possible for us; and to make mind aby-product of an alleged matter is a contradiction in itself........Category 21: Mentalism > Chapter 5: The Key To the Spiritual World....Paul Brunton

However rich the experiences may be which such meditation brings. For thedeepest possible experience of meditation is to empty consciousness of theworld-experience and thus to point out its unreality. But That which does thepointing, and that which is having the experience, and the experienceitself--all, in the end, originate from the Real. The discovery of the unrealityof the world is useful, for it offers the needed complete detachment from ourbonds. But this cannot be the unique, the sole highest purpose of our existence,for then there would be no need to continue existence in the body after thediscovery. A mystic must move on and seek the still farther realization whichshows the world under a new light and offers an entirely new standpoint forunderstanding it. And this is that the uniquely real is not less present in theworld than in his meditation, only it is present in a different way. It is likethe dreamer who wakens to the fact that he is dreaming and who continues todream but knows all the time that it is a dream experience. In just the same waythe highest realization is that the Real is Consciousness--the pure, theultimate Consciousness--but this consciousness can take different forms and yetstill remain what it really is.

Since the Real is unique, the One without a second and not the One which is related to the Many that spring out of it, it cannot correctly be set up in opposition to the Unreal, the Illusory, the Appearance. They are not on the same level.......Paul Brunton

We are all hardwired for happiness. It's absence is the driver of action. The search for happiness can not occur without unhappiness, or suffering. It is this desire to complete ourselves, to make ourselves whole and complete, this notion that we are incomplete as we are, that motivates us to "do."

Think about this. It is ultimately a rejection of the "now", the present.

And what about this rejection of the now? Do we ever experience anything but the present moment? Is there a future beyond a thought that arises in the present moment?

If the answer is no, then, our seeking is nothing other than a perpetual chasing of a moment that will never, ever exist.

This awareness allows us to realize that if we are ever able to locate happiness that it will only ever be discovered here in this present moment. There is no point in avoidance of what is. The portal has always been right here... and by welcoming the now, we uncover the simple fact that what we have always sought is what we are.... right here, right now. Ignorance is discovered to be just that..ignoring what actually is.

In the end, it is realized ... that happiness can never be found in an object, that this search for happiness is the exactly the same as the search for our true nature, which was always right here, right now. The reality of all of our seeking, be it for money, fame, relationship, sex, vanity or, more subtly enlightenment is simply misdirected love for our true nature.. In the end, it is the realization that the seeker itself is the illusion, apparently separating the seeker from the sought. It is ALL the only journey ever occuring: the journey home.

Enjoy this magnificent meditation from Francis Lucille on The Present Moment:

"Go deeply into the present moment.

The only cause for suffering is our refusal or rejection of that which the present moment is offering.

We want it to be different. We want it to be according to our own projection, to our own personal plan. We reject everything that goes against the personal plan and we want everything that is in accordance with our own personal plan for happiness.

The problem is that the personal plan for happiness is flawed and doesn’t work. We have had enough experience with it in the past to know that it is flawed and that it doesn’t work. We have inherited the personal plan for happiness from our parents, from our friends, from our surroundings. And if we look at them, did it work for them? And if it didn’t work for them, why would it work for us?

If we welcome the present moment, we will discover that in the present moment there is never a problem. The problems and psychological suffering arise only in relation to the past and to the future of a personal entity. In the now there is no such personal entity. That’s the beauty of it. Only the now is real. The past doesn’t exist any longer and the future doesn’t exist yet, so only the now is real. In the now there is no personal entity.

The personal entity exists only as a rejection of the now.

Ask yourself, “What is so unbearable in the now?” We assume that the now is unbearable only because we have never experienced it to its fullest. In fact, it is quite bearable. In fact, the now is at peace and free from problems, free from suffering. All we have to do is to meet the now in our welcoming.

The now is the bridge between time and eternity. When we stop oscillating between the past and the future we start walking on that bridge.

The bridge is extremely narrow for the now is like an extremely narrow interval between the past and the future. At the other end of the bridge there is Presence, timeless, eternal.

When we stop rejecting the now, things become simply neutral. It is not that they become pleasant. Appearances are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. They are somehow irrelevant in terms of peace. They become neutral. We become indifferent to them. They become as neutral as the ‘tick’ and the ‘tock’ of a clock, ticking away in the room, measuring the silence, measuring the Presence. Because the rhythmic sound is so neutral, it doesn’t grab our attention for too long. Our attention gets liberated from the object and meets itself as Presence.

These words are like the sound of the clock. In and by themselves, they are just vibrations of little importance, revealing the timelessness from where they came, to which they return.

You cannot make an object out of this timelessness. If you do so, you lose it. You lose the freshness, the immediacy, the intimacy of it. You cannot rest on any sensation. You cannot even rest in the present moment. Your eternal repose is in the Presence which is already here, which you already have because you already are it.

We are that which we are looking for.

Remember to always take your experience to its true level, which is the level of Presence. Take it back to Presence, because that’s where it takes place.

Remember that no matter whether there is a world outside or no matter how many worlds, subtle or gross, there are, still the reality of our experience is unavoidable, undeniable, totally certain.

If you abide in the reality of your experience, which is your true nature, your true being, what can happen to you?

Everything that arises in the mind and in the world is this Presence exercising its infinite power to create, to sustain, to dissolve. So take the experience of your mind, the thoughts, to their true level, which is Consciousness, this Presence. There is no mind at that level, only thought arising in Presence. During the presence of the thought, the thought is the Presence. The thought and the Presence are one, because there is nothing separate from Presence, nothing outside this Presence, nothing that is not this Presence.

In the same way, take your bodily sensations to their true level. Their true level is not the body; that’s not where they take place. Their true level is not the mind. Their true level is the Consciousness.

And when you do so, there is no mind and there is no body. When you do so, you go straight to your deepest Being, to your true Being.